Bernie Sanders admits he's unlikely to become Democratic nominee

Updated: Thursday, June 23, 2016, 11:44 [IST]

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Washington, June 23: Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders admitted that he will not be Democratic candidate for the White House as he indirectly recognised Hillary Clinton's victory in the race for the party's presidential nomination for the first time in public.

"It doesn't appear that I'm going to be the nominee, so I'm not going to determine the scope of the convention in July in which the party nominee will be officially named," Sanders said on Wednesday during an interview with C-SPAN TV channel.

The Vermont senator, 74, advises Clinton to choose "the most progressive candidate that she can find" for vice president, while several media published a short list of candidates for the position which excluded Sanders, EFE news reported.

"It would be a terrible mistake for her to go to a candidate who has roots from Wall Street or has been backed by Wall Street," underlined Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, who campaigns against the excesses of large corporations.

On June 14, the Democratic presidential hopeful met with Clinton at a hotel in Washington near the White House, but he still has not announced his endorsement of the former US Secretary of State.

The Senator has not explicitly suspended his campaign, arguing that he wishes to continue until the party's convention in Philadelphia slated for July 2 to voice his political agenda.

Sanders has also offered to help defeat the unofficial Republican nominee, real-estate magnate Donald Trump, in the November elections.

Democratic leaders such as US president Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have officially endorsed Clinton as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee for the White House following her victory in the California and New Jersey primaries on June 7.

Sanders praised the intelligence of the former First Lady but stressed that "there are areas where we have strong disagreements".